Poems for November, 2009
The following verses are selections from the poetry of James E. Cox (Jim). To learn more about the author and his works, visit the sites under “Navigation.”
This month the poems are dedicated to higher education. Enjoy!
Freshman
(I apologize to all the sophomores out there.)
Most read good books...stay wake in class,
while experts guide through truth's morass.
Then, once they reach the sophomore year
some aged to sage...while smoking grass.
Listen
Listen to what they have to say.
Listen, absorb, ponder, weigh,
but though it is said by sage or saint
you decide, for you must pay.
The following poem was sent to Westminster College when they asked alumni to write about the Westminster experience. They said they liked the poem and would put it in one of their pamphlets. They never did...but here it is.
Just Due
Forty years, and more, can't pale
what treasured thoughts remain.
Though divers winds have filled my sail,
Westminster stays coxswain.
I'd come to you from U. of U.
and small E.T.S.C.
Eight years I'd climbed kismet's step-stool.
in quest of apogee.
Six years of work and part-time school
left path to goal gridlocked.
I turned to you to seek rescue
with door to chi unlocked.
Professor Woodford heard my plight
and said, "If you'll but trust,
I'll guide you 'till your goal's in sight..
if you'll provide the thrust."
He tutored me in lab and class
I needed to complete
the science skills Westminster tasked
each physicist must meet.
But that school sought to not alone
mere loose me on my way,
it would ensure my soul had grown
to weight each day's entr'ee.
Logic, Lit. and "Word of God"
filled my curricula,
and I felt more than gentle prod
if my mores bared a flaw.
In '65, with my degree,
I left to face a world
confounded by technology
that had too fast unfurled.
I found the lessons Woodford taught,
and those the school required,
helped me to face the melting pot
the work-day life had sired.
Life's thread had let to aerospace...
Lachesis was not kind.
Most contracts seemed a relay race
with course not well defined.
I was employed by many
from East to Western coast,
and never fired by any
is something I can boast.
Most contracts lasted but three years...
the tech-world move so fast,
and apogees and deep nadirs
filled my vocation's past.
But through it all when times were tough,
Westminster's counsel led.
My heartfelt thanks, though not enough,
for guidance you inbred.
Also visit the “Sunset” and "Rubai" sites under “Navigation” for more of my poems …and visit again next month for entirely new poems.